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Monday, December 7, 2009

/facepalm: Patch Issues a Day Early

Update2: Adoriele, the author of Squawk and Awe, posted a comment below that I wanted to highlight.

Just wanted to give people a heads-up, there's a quick fix in the works for SAA. It's a kinda ugly hack, and I'm not sure about the performance difference in using it, so I'm waiting until I get confirmation that a.) it works, and b.) it doesn't lock up your computer before I release it. The fix was written by another party, as well, so I'll want to get his permission before I post it places (or let him do it).

After the fix, SAA will still work exactly as it has before - no split Eclipse bars, trinket bars still somewhat borked, depending on what trinkets you're using. All the fix does is change from triggering Eclipse bars off of the Combat Log to triggering off of the UNIT_AURA event.

And there was much rejoicing.

Even if this does work, I will probably still try and look for another option. I like Squawk and Awe, but we can't really expect Adoriele to maintain it if he doesn't have an account. It would be nice to have several options so we are not running around the night before a patch trying to figure somethign out.

Update1:

Lissanna over at Restokin.com apparently did some testing on the PTR to see if any of the addons worked. You can find her post here.

In short, she has found only 3 addons that track the Eclipse buff successfully on the PTR, and only one addon that tracks the cooldown successfully on the PTR. At the moment the our best bet seems to be working with two Addons: ClassTimer and ClassTimer Eclipse.

I'll be honest. I am a little skeptical. I have never worked with either addon. Plus, neither addon has been updated recently. I hope it works. If any of you have experiance with either of these addons, or finds another one that is confirmed to work, please post it in the comments or send me an email.

Power Auras: I wanted to make a quick note on this addon. I haven't tested it, but according to Wisprunner you can track the different buffs by using Druid_Ability_Eclipse for Lunar and Druid_Ability_EclipseOrange for Solar. He has a long post about his addons here.

I don't know if this will work after the patch. I also don't think it will manage the Eclipse Cooldowns, but it may be a temporary solution.

Original Post:

Clean words cannot express the frustration I am feeling at this moment. All the reports say that Patch 3.3 is being released tomorrow. I really wanted to kill Heroic Anub before the patch was dropped. We were very close to getting the kill. With thirty minutes left in our raid I thought we had a chance. Then it happened.

Our virtual world came crashing down before our eyes. Some of us couldn't release from our bodies. The ones that could release could not zone in to ToGC. Our last 30 minutes flashed away before our eyes. I'm so frustrated I could punch babies.

Squawk and Awe:

In other news, don't expect Squawk and Awe to work for you after the patch, and don't expect it to be updated anytime soon. Apparently the change to Eclipse that broke WiseEclipse is also breaking Squawk and Awe. Plus the developer of Squawk and Awe currently does not have an account and is not planning to do the rewrite that would be necessary to make it work. So we need to look for other options.

I don't have any good alternatives at the moment, but there are a couple of things I'm looking at. The first is Power Auras. You can configure it to show you both buffs. It's handy for me because I already use Power Auras for multiple things, I don't think it can measure the cooldowns as well. The second option is Quartz: Proc Module. Its an expansion of Quartz: Eclipse Module. I don't know if it will work after the patch, but I wasn't real pleased with it after I tested it today in-game. The big problem I had with it was that the bars were tiny and I couldn't change them in any way. Therefore they were impossible to notice.

40 comments:

I've used the quartz module for a long time and have generally been happy with it. I plop it in the middle of the screen so the size is perfect: large enough to see but not obscuring everything.

My only complaint is that it doesn't show which eclipse is on cooldown and so if I forget while doing something else I can end up wasting time trying to proc the wrong one.

There appears to be an alternate quartz extension that is more customizable which might try out since I found it tonight while updating addons for 3.3: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/quartz_procs.aspx

I moved away from Squawk about a month ago and starting using ForteXorcist. It has a great druid module which I've been using to track everything Squawk did, such as which Eclipse is active, and hidden cooldowns for each, and much more. It has a very clean interface and was updated a few hours ago for 3.3. There's is still a chance it will need updating for the new cooldowns (i.e. the anti WiseEclipse counter-measures).

As far as alternatives go, I would recommend Quartz:Proc Module. I've used it for a long time and have had great success with it.

I know you said that you could not find a way to change the size of the proc bars however, there is a way to change them! Just go the the 'Mirror' (might be mirrors) setting in the Quartz config (/quartz) and all the settings you would like to adjust should be in there!

I originally tried out the Quartz:Eclipse Module but I found that it was a little too rigid at times with what I wanted it to do. Plus, the proc module keeps track of many more things that I find useful (Relic Procs and other buffs).

Please Note: I bumped into a similar mention of this on the curse page for this addon (Procs Module). Something mentioned in the forums about "Boomkins Eclipse will no longer fire SPELL_AURA_APPLIED when it procs." This makes me wonder if all addons that are used to track the Eclipse buff are going to work at all. Time will tell I suppose.

If not having a working Squawk and Awe + no WE my dps will drop down to the bottom for sure !I have tried the Quartz modules but never managed to set it up to something I felt as comfortable with as with SAA.

The one I've been using for a while now to watch my proc's is called EventAlert. It shows up as an inch square skill icon on top of your UI. I use it for both Eclipse and Nature's Grace procs. Simple, clean, no fuss, ridiculously easy to set up.

IT's not JUST S&A that is broken. It's ANY mod that monitors the chat log because there is a bug where the info isn't going to the chat log. MOST timer mods are looking at the chat log and not just at your buff icons over your head.

So, I'm not sure that things like quartz will work unless you verified them specifically with testing on the PTR.

The ONLY thing that I have found that still gives cooldown timers on the PTR is ClassTimer paired with ClassTimer Eclipse.

I ran into a handful of other broken mods when testing it out on the PTR. THe bug is NOT just effecting S&A. Test things on the Live server before assuming it works.

I'm pretty new to the boomkin scene. I've been rolling Resto since TBC and picked up boom when dualspec came out but never paid much attention to it. A recent guild application has made me realize how much I'm under-utilizing my abilities so I've started soaking up as much info as I can get my hands on.

From what I've read here and elsewhere, the nerf/buff to Eclipse (and subsequently WiseEclipse) is a bit of a bummer. RIP. I'm not so worried about S&A as I think its functionality can be replicated by the use of other addons still in active development.

I'm throwing my hat it with PowerAuras for the moment but will check out some of the other options commenters have suggested.

@AblimothHave you upgraded to the newest version of PA yet? I'm pretty sure you can execute double conditional checks. I'll have to try tonight after we're back up to verify.

@Anonymous & YouWakeItIMPORTNANT! Go here to download the latest version of Power Auras (V2.6.4F).

After getting it up and running in game go to this YouTube video for step-by-step instructions on how to complete the setup. The guy rambles a bit but bear with him. He gets his point across.

I share your frustrations as I spent the better part of two hours last night trying to get my PA setup to distinguish between the two buffs. After giving up to go hang up some Christmas lights, I returned with the brilliant idea of making sure my addon was updated to the latest version. Doh! >_<

Next step is to figure out how to set up PA to show Eclipse CDs in case S&A is truly dead. I'm pretty confident this can be done by utilizing conditional timers. I'll post back if successful.

What Lissanna says is important, and really a core issue. Checking the combatlog as the old addons did wasn't really pretty, but it's a heck of a lot better than the way Classtimers does it. Hopefully someone will come up with a better way to use UnitAura, because Classtimers will cause a lot of taint by the looks of it. I'm not sure what PowerAuras does.

I'm sorry to hear about your ToGC issues yesterday, Graylo. I know how frustrating it is to have your raid night fall to pieces due to factors beyond your control. Hope you have better luck in Icecrown this week.

Just wanted to give people a heads-up, there's a quick fix in the works for SAA. It's a kinda ugly hack, and I'm not sure about the performance difference in using it, so I'm waiting until I get confirmation that a.) it works, and b.) it doesn't lock up your computer before I release it. The fix was written by another party, as well, so I'll want to get his permission before I post it places (or let him do it).

After the fix, SAA will still work exactly as it has before - no split Eclipse bars, trinket bars still somewhat borked, depending on what trinkets you're using. All the fix does is change from triggering Eclipse bars off of the Combat Log to triggering off of the UNIT_AURA event.

Glad to hear S&A may be working, at least short-term! I'm sure I should work on transitioning to another addon.. but I was (am?) really not looking forwards to new fights + new addons all at once. For good or for bad I'm not likely to have time to re-adapt to a new addon before raid tonight, so I'm crossing my fingers.. if not, though, I'll just have to deal.

It's awesome to see all the choices out there coming through, and awesome to see Adoriele pulling through for us as well - thanks!!

You may not be able to track the internal cooldown of the eclipse with PowerAuras, but I'm pretty damn sure that you can come close. Here's the thought that I have in mind. Duplicate the setting for your Lunar and Solar Eclipse and then check the box for when the buff is missing (much like you would for a FF aura). Set the icon to 0% opacity so you never see it and turn on a timer that counts up (i think this can be done). Once it reaches 15, your Eclipse is off ICD. You can also watch just how long your Eclipse stays on cooldown providing greater levels of QQ than ever before!! I was locked out last night so I was unable to get the strings that I use. If I get in tonight, I will certainly post my strings over at themoonkinrepository.com

I strongly reccommend using Quartz with Quartz: Proc Module. After hearing the news, I decided to try it out. Funny thing is I was testing it with my priest earlier yesterday. It does show the cooldown for both starfire eclipse and wrath eclipse. You can color code both too and I really love it actually :)

Then you did something wrong. Classtimer has a different color on the icon for the eclipse buff. Red for solar und blue for lunar. And you can as well make an icon or bar for your moonfire and insect swarm dots.

The fix Adoriele links to above worked fine for me. I did not notice any additional slow down as compared to the old 3.2 squawk.

As Lissanna points out, you should save a copy of squawk before you make these changes, since there's a chance Blizz will switch it back in the future (I'm not sure if this change was purposeful or not...Blizz already added the extra cooldown to avoid WiseEclipse, so this seems redundant if it is purposeful).

Since the fix is made up solely of additions, it won't be too hard for me to go back and remove it if Blizzard fixes the combat log issue (though, really, all you'd need to do is download the older version, which I know WoWI lets you do, and I imagine it's not too hard to find on Curse, either).

Official patch is out for testing, should be up on those sites tonight, no guarantees on time (sorry EST raiders).

Really big thanks for that Power Auras link. I got to the youtube video and set all the auras from there plus added few ideas of mine (like animation when FF wears off or when Starfall is off CD). This plus Class Timer Eclipse looks really great. I just had to turn off the Class Timer bars that show spells I already see on PA.